Tory MS rejects claims that they support Gregg Wallace

Emily Price 

A Welsh Conservative MS has rejected claims that she is “showing support” for Masterchef presenter Gregg Wallace.

A screengrab sent to Nation Cymru revealed that Laura Anne Jones had used her official MS Instagram account to “like” a video of the tv host thanking his followers for reaching out to him whilst he defends himself against allegations of sexual misconduct.

A Tory source said: “It’s appalling and concerning to see a Conservative MS showing support for Gregg Wallace given the allegations against him.”

Ms Jones told us she likes cooking and does follow Mr Wallace online but wasn’t aware that he is being investigated for sexual misconduct dating back over a decade and a half.

She added that she must have either liked the video by mistake or that it could have been one of her children using her phone.

‘Sexualised nature’

Wallace stands accused of inappropriately touching women, making “inappropriate sexual jokes”, asking for the phone numbers of female members of production staff, and undressing in front of and standing “too close” to women working on his shows.

Allegations from 13 people across a range of programs over a 17-year period were reported by BBC News last week, with many others since sharing their experiences.

Among the complainants was former Newsnight host Kirsty Wark who says Wallace relayed stories and jokes of a “sexualised nature” in front of contestants and crew when she competed on Celebrity MasterChef in 2011.

TV presenter Aggie MacKenzie, who competed on the same series, told Good Morning Britain: “Yes I agree with everything Kirsty says, those jokes weren’t actually directed at me, but the jokes were always smutty, they were endless.

“It was as if Gregg was some sort of dinosaur who just can’t read the room, and seemed to be allowed to carry on in this way.”

Backlash

On Sunday, Wallace received a backlash after saying the complaints against him had come from “middle-class women of a certain age”.

He has since apologised for his comments saying that he wasn’t in a “good headspace” when he posted the video.

Complaints

In a later video, Mr Wallace claimed “absolutely none” of the people he had worked with on his shows had made a complaint about him.

A former Celebrity MasterChef contestant said Mr Wallace’s reaction to the accusations being made against him shows he has “no insight or understanding of how he behaves”.

Labour MP Dr Rupa Huq, who sits on the Culture, Media and Sport committee, suggested on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme it would “send a strong message that this kind of behaviour is not acceptable” if the current running series of MasterChef: The Professionals was paused.

There are also two MasterChef specials currently lined-up for over the Christmas period.

Wallace’s lawyers say “it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature”.

Allegations were also raised about Wallace’s behaviour on Channel 5’s GreggWallace’s Big Weekends, with producer Rumpus Media saying it would be investigating allegations of “inappropriate behaviour”.

It comes after it was announced the tv personality will step away from the BBC cooking show while historical misconduct complaints are externally reviewed by MasterChef producer Banijay UK.

The production company confirmed it has appointed law firm Lewis Silkin to lead an investigation into Wallace’s alleged behaviour.